The Utah “Clean Slate” law that expunges certain types of misdemeanor criminal records automatically officially took effect on February 10, 2022, to help the residents of the state deal with criminal records that may prevent them from accessing jobs, housing, education, loans, and other opportunities.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed House Bill 431 (HB 431) into law in March 2019 to require the government to use technology to automatically expunge minor criminal records for qualifying individuals who have remained crime free for a set period of time.
Ex-offenders who have not been convicted of a misdemeanor crime in the last 5 to 7 years may have all or part of their criminal record automatically expunged so it will not show up on a background check and they can legally respond to questions about criminal records as if the criminal activity never occurred.
HB 431 – originally slated to be implemented on May 1, 2020 – was delayed due to COVID-19. “Utah’s Clean Slate law is estimated to clear 200,000 historical criminal records automatically, and is projected to effect hundreds of thousands of criminal records into the future,” according to the non-profit Clean Slate Utah.
However, Clean Slate Utah warned that “the law has no direct notification requirement, meaning individuals whose records are automatically cleared will not receive notice that their record has been cleared.” Clean Slate Utah does offer a way for ex-offenders to receive notification when automatic record-clearing begins.
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Thomas Ahearn - News Blog Editor and Public Relations Specialist
Thomas Ahearn is our News Blog Editor and Public Relations Specialist. Our News Blog provides information about the background check industry to employers, HR professionals, recruiters, and consumers. ClearStar's News covers a variety of topics including Ban the Box, credit reports, criminal records, data breaches, drug testing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), E-Verify, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), HR technology, identity theft and fraud, jobs reports, lawsuits involving screening, Millennial workforce, privacy issues, social media background checks, and workplace violence.
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